Working at McDonalds has earned me the respect of my family. Sure, I am only 16 years old, but holding down this job has not been easy. It is not as if the uniform says “cool dude.” The girls do not come flocking to the counter, throwing their numbers at me. Once I came so close, she leaned over, and whispered, “mate”…I got so excited, but then realized she said, “shake,” and my ego was quickly deflated.
Sometimes I get bored and try to think of things to keep the morale up. I have taken it upon myself to be the ‘morale booster’ of McDonalds. I do it gladly! I love to work the drive- thru, trying out my different voices. I do not always get a good response to the foreign languages though. I have tried out my Spanish a few times, as I am in my second semester of Spanish and am carrying a strong C. I was quite proud of myself for completing a whole sentence, until this guy comes in, and jumps over the counter at me. Pulling off my headset, he tells me I have no right calling his girlfriend a jumping lizard! I attempt to smooth things over, trying to explain that I did not mean to say it. I quickly look out the window to see what the fuss is all about and I will just tell you…jumping lizards is right!
One of the morale boosters that has kept everyone in good spirits is playing with people’s heads. I get on the speaker for the drive- thru and say, “Welcome to Burger King!” I then call all my co-workers, and we hang out the drive-thru window. We watch as the car backs up to catch a second look at the McDonald’s sign. It is so funny…well until the manager shows up, scolding us. I guess she does not appreciate my morale boosting abilities.
Have you ever ordered something and they tell you they will bring your food to you? I love doing this most of all. I hurry out the front, stand in front of the car, and direct traffic to the nearest parking space. I think it is a great service. Sometimes I throw in some dance moves! The people seem to appreciate the gesture. However, one woman thought I was being a smart punk. Well she did not think it, she said, “Hey smart punk, get out of the way!” There is no being nice to some people!
Assigned playground-cleaning duty several times this year, I know my manager feels I am the only one who can do this job right! I have to clean the playground equipment and this means climbing up through those little spaces with a bucket and a sponge. I realize it takes a strong body to do this. I am sure that is why my manager has singled me out.
It was a quiet one day, not many customers, and my manager assigns me to cleaning duty of the playground. Knowing I am the best worker for this job, I gladly accept the challenge. Filling my bucket with warm soapy water, I grab my sponge, and head to the wonderland. Taking off my shoes, I place them in the little holes. I begin to climb up the slide, holding on with one hand, and my bucket in the other. I soon realize…I have an audience. There is a little girl watching me.
“Hey mister, what cha doing?”
Not wanting to be rude, I tell her, “cleaning!”
Being a curious child, she asks, “What you cleaning?”
I explain, “I am cleaning your slide!”
She answers back, “It’s not my slide, its McDonald’s slide.”
Then I have an idea! She seems like a nice kid.
“Hey little girl, want to earn a dollar?”
The little girl says, “No thanks…my mommy gives me money!”
My idea failed…I give her a buck and she cleans the slide. She feels like a big kid…having responsibility like me…simple idea, great thought…yes?
No! It was not such a great idea!
I look down a few minutes later to see the little girl, her mommy, my manager, and a police officer all looking up at me.
“Uh…is everything okay? Is there a bomb threat…? No…please do not tell me… a weather warning, a fire? What’s up?”
It was then I was fired as the ‘morale booster’ of our local McDonalds, never to work at McDonalds again! They would not even let me explain!
So now I am working at the DQ…yep, yep, yep … totally cool…all ice cream duty!
The morale is somewhat low. I think it is time for me to spread some smiles in this place!